Floor surfacing machine



July 6, 1937.

o. ANDERSON FLOOR SURFACING MACHINE Filed May 17, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 27 I '73 I k INVENTOR a? .flnderson,

July 6,1937. Q ANDERSON I 2,086,204

A FLOOR" SURFACING MACHINE I Fiied May l7, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 N? :mIIIIILK III , INVENTOR Oscar Z. flmierso ATTORNEY.-

Patented July 6, 1937 UNHTED STATES PATENT am:

FLOOR SURFACING MACHINE Oscar L. Anderson, Los Angeles, Calif. Application May 17, 1933, Serial No. 671,509

7 Claims.

This invention relates to surfacing and finishing machinery and has for an object the provision of a portable machine for rubbing, sanding and/or polishing wherein the portion of the machine which performs the rubbing, sanding and/or polishing operation is in the form of a reciprocatory member instead of a rotary member as in the case of the more conventional machine of this general class.

A more detailed object of the invention is the provision of a surfacing machine of the general character indicated which includes a block adapted to operate in conjunction with or actually to carry a suitable detergent, rubbing or sanding material or polishing material, and mounted upon the frame of the machine through the expedient of a suitable track or guideway, or any suitable means for imparting reciprocatory motion to the block upon the track so as to effect the desired rubbing, scouring or polishing operation.

Another object is to provide novel means whereby the reciprocatory head is slidably mounted upon the frame of the machine.

5 3 Another object is to provide a surfacing machine cf the general character described wherein the surfacing block i. e., the member which engages the surface to be treated, extends beyond the edges of the frame of. the machine, the importance of this feature being that it permits the entire front or other surface being treated to beengaged by the operating member, even into the corners and closely adjacent the juncture of the wall with the floor.

do A further object is to provide a surfacing block for use in conjunction with a surfacing machine of the general type indicated, in which novel means are employed for removably securing a strip of sand paper or the like in operative position upon the block.

A still further object is to provide novel means for mounting the surfacing block upon the reciprocatory head of the machine whereby replacei ment of the block by another carrying a freshby the lines 33 of Fig. 1 and the direction of 10 view by the arrows.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the front end of the machine.

Fig. 5 is a top plan View of the operating member or sanding block. This view may be consid-'- 15' ered an original sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4 with the direction of View as indicated by the arrows.

My improved surfacing machine comprises a frame 6 preferably in the form of a flat metal 1 plate and supported at the after end upon preferably a plurality of wheels l each of which is journalled as by an aXle 8 in a bracket 9 rigid with the frame 6. A guiding way H is provided adjacent the forward end of the frame 5 throughthe expedient of a pair of opposedtracks I2 each of which is preferably closely adjacent the associate lateral edge of the frame or plate 6 and se cured to its under surface so as to extend downwards therefrom. Each track i2 is providedwith 1 a shoulder l3 defining a' surface which faces downwards so as to permit the nut it on a screw it or its-equivalent to be tightened against the shoulder l3 and thereby rigidly clamp the trackl2 against the plate 6. track I2 is offset inwards thereby providing another shoulder H which defines-an upwardly facing surface, and each of these surfaces or: shoulders ll is engaged by the under surface of i an offset portion l8 of a rail It, the purpose be- 49 ing to mount the rails it! for reciprocatory motion below the under surface of the plate 5.

These rails I9 are rigidly affixed to the upper surface of a plate 2| and cooperate therewith to define the reciprocatory head 22, to which the polishing, sanding or scouring block 23 is adapted to be removably secured. The rails l9 are so spaced that they are retained in sliding engagement with the vertical inner faces 24 of the offset portions of the rails l2 so that therecipro- 50 catory head 22 is restrained against lateral movement with respect to the frame 6', but is permitted free reciprocatory motion longitudinally of the frame moreoverthe plate 2| slidably engages the under surfaces of the tracks I2.

The lower portion of each" while theofi'set portions l8 of the rails [9 engage the upper surfaces of shoulders ll of the tracks l2 so that Vertical movement of the head 22 with respect to the frame 5 is likewise prevented.

A plurality of pins 26 extend rigidly downwards of the plate 2|, each pin being provided with a shoulder 2'! at a predetermined distance above the lower end thereof which shoulder can more conveniently be provided by threading a nut 21 onto the pin 26 until it contacts the under surface of the plate 2| and by utilizing nuts 27 all of which are of the same thickness uniform spacing of these shoulders from the undersurface of the plate 2| will be assured, preferably the pins 26 are arranged in a plurality of rows extending transversely with respect to the machine, two such rows being illustrated in the drawings although it shouldbe understood that I do not wish to be limited to any precise number of such rows of pins. Each row of pins 26 is adapted to engage a rubbing, scouring, sanding, or polishing block 23, the'upper surface 29 of which is provided with a plurality of sockets 3| the number of which corresponds to the number of pins 28 in each row with all the pins 23 of one of the rows adapted to be received within the socket 3| of one of the blocks 23 so that the block 23 is removably engaged upon the under surface of the reciprocating head 22.

To the upper surface of the plate 2!, intermediate and parallel to the rails 19 are a pair of spaced racks 36 each of which has teeth 3'1. Associated with each rack 35 is a sector gear 38, the teeth 39 of which enmesh the teeth 37 of the associated rack 36. Each of the sector gears 38 is carried by a trunnion il which is mounted for rocking movement in a bearing 42 upon the upper surface of the plate 6 in which a suitable aperture 43 is provided for the sector gears 38 to extend downwards therethrough. Secured to the inner end of each of the trunnions 4! is a bar 44 and these bars are held in spaced parallel relation by pins 46 and 4?, and adjacent their ends. The bar 44 extends to both sides of the alined axes of the trunnions 4! that cooperate with each other to define a rocker arm to which the sector gears 33 are rigidly secured. The pin. at the upper end of the rocker arm serves as a crank pin, inasmuch as it is engaged within a bearing 48 at one end of a connecting rod or pitman 49, the bearing at the other end of which is suitably engaged upon a crank pin 52 which is rigidly and eccentrically mounted upon and between a pair of axially alined disks 53, each of which is rotatably carried by a suitable bearing 54 upon the upper surface of the plate 6. The shaft 56 carrying one of the disks 53 is extended far enough to receive a sprocket 51 which is engaged by a chain or belt 58 and this chain is also engaged on the sprocket 53 carried by the shaft 6| of a motor 62 which in turn is mounted upon a suitable base 33 which is retained in elevated position above the plate 6 by preferably a pair of supporting plates 34.

Thus it may be seen that when the motor 32 is energized, suitable electrical conductors (not shown) being connected therewith for this purpose, the disks 53 will be rotated, thereby imparting reciprocatory motion to the pitman 49 which in turn moves the rocker arm defined'by the two bars 48 back and forth; and through the interengagement of the sector gears 38 with the racks 36 this motion of the rocker arm will result in longitudinal reciprocatory motion of the head 22 and the block or blocks 23, as the case might be, that are carried thereby.

As a precautionary measure the lower pin 46 of the rocker arm extends relatively loosely through a rigid loop or eye H which is aflixed to the upper surface of the plate 2| so that reciprocatory motion of the head 22 will be assured even in the event of failure of the interengagement of either or both of the sector gears 38 with their respective racks 36.

Means are provided upon the block 23 for removably securing a sheet of polishing, grinding or smoothing material such as a sheet of conventional sand paper to the surface of the block, this stripping means comprises a pair of rigid strips 12 and 13 mounted upon the upper surface of the block 23 adjacent each of two parallel edges thereof, preferably the front and rear edges instead of being clamped tightly against the block, however these strips are spaced slightly therefrom, their ends l4 being deflected downwards toward the block so as to provide suitable supports for the strips, the purpose of this structure is to permit the ends 18 and ll of a sheet 18 of sand paper or analogous material to be inserted under the strips as will readily be understood. Associated with one of the strips, preferably the strip '53 adjacent the forward edge of the block is a bar or strip 8! which is pivotally mounted at one end upon a bracket 82 adjacent one end of the block 23. This strip 8| is disposed in a vertical plane and immediately above a groove 82 (see Fig.

i 3) which preferably is disposed immediately behind the after edge of the strip 13. A clip 83 is rockably mounted upon the upper surface of the strip 13 adjacent the other end of the block 23, this clip 83 being adapted to be turned so as to engage the upper edge of the strip 8| when the strip 8! is lowered far enough to cause the lower edge to enter the groove 82. The strip 78 of sand paper is thereby attached in operative position to the block 23, but first having its end 16 thrust under the strip 72 which it should be explained is spaced from the upper surface of the block 23 only far enough to permit such insertion, hence after the end 16 of the sand paper has been so inserted, suificient friction will be established therewith by the strip 12 that this end of sand paper will be retained as positioned. The strip is of sand paper is folded around the under surface of the block 29 thus bringing the other end ll upwards to permit its being similarly thrust under the strip 13. This end 11, however, should be thrust far enough so that it extends over the groove 82, whereupon by lowering the pivoted strip 8! a fold of the sand paper can be forced downwards into the groove, thereby imposing a considerable degree of tension upon the sand paper and firmly locking the end 11 thereof in position. It should be understood that a pivoted strip such as the strip 8| may be employed in conjunction with both ends of the strip of sand paper if desired, but it is not deemed necessary for the reason that the tension which one such pivoted strip imposes upon the sheet of sand paper will cause the opposite end of the sheet to bind itself between its associated rigid strip 12 and the upper surface of the block 23. Sand paper is inherently relatively stiff and the tension imposed upon the sheet tends to pull the end 76 toward the associated lateral edge of the block 23 and around the upper corner at that edge of the block, however, owing to the stiffness of the sand paper this tendency to move around the corner causes the upper, '1'. e., the rough surface ofthis end 16 to be pressed quite tightly against the under surface of the strip 12, this I have found can be relied upon to anchor the end 16 of the sand paper with sufiicient firmness to permit dispensing with a pivoted strip 8| at each end of the strip of sand paper.

It will be observed by observation of Figs. 1 and 4 that the block 23 is the widest portion of the entire machine, thus causing the ends of block 23 to project past the lateral edges of the frame 26, the importance of this feature is that it permits the floor or other surface being sanded, polished or otherwise treated to be engaged by the under surface of the block 23 right up to the base board or molding and actually into the extreme corners of the floor, in this manner, I have overcome one of the inherent disadvantages of floor polishing machines which employ rotary operating members, the use of which requires that the extreme edges of the floor be treated by hand, because of the fact that such portions of the fioor are inaccessible to machines of this type. Contradistinct with rotary polishers the reciprocatory polishing head of my machine, presenting as it does the widest portion of the machine, is able to establish operating engagement with all portions of a floor or other surface, thus obviating the necessity of treating any portion of the floor by hand.

In this specification it is understood that the block 23 may be made in the form of any suitable surface engaging member such as a roughing tool, a scrubbing brush, different types of steel brushes, sand or sanding blocks or any suitable polishing and buffing block, each of which to be provided with the plurality of sockets 3 l to be received on the pins 25 and it is understood that the use of any one of-such blocks 28 shall include any of the other styles or types of blocks hereinbefore referred to.

I claim:

1. A surfacing machine comprising a wheeled frame, means providing a guiding way on said frame, a head slidably mounted in said way, a block releasably mounted on said head, surfacing material carried by said block, rack teeth on said head, a rocker arm mounted on said frame for rocking movement, a sector gear rigid with said rocker arm and having teeth enmeshed with said rack teeth, and a reciprocating connecting rod extending from said rocker arm for recipro eating said rocker arm.

2. A surfacing machine of the character described, comprising a wheeled frame, a plural ity of parallel tracks disposed therebelow, each of said tracks having a shoulder thereon defining an upwardly facing surface extending longitudinally thereof, a head slidably engaging the under surfaces of all of said tracks, means rigid with said head and slidably engaging each of said tracks along the upper surfaces thereof, a block secured to the under surface of said head, and surfacing material carried by said block.

3. A surfacing machine comp-rising a wheeled frame, means providing a guiding way on said frame, .a block, surfacing material carried by said block, means slidably mounting said block in said way, said block being greater in at least one dimension than the width of said frame, rack teeth associated with said block, a gear mounted on said frame for rocking movement and having teeth enmeshed with said rack'teeth and a reciprocating rod extending from said gear for rocking said gear and reciprocating said block.

4. A surfacing machine comprising a frame; a wheel means supporting one end of said frame; a guiding way on said frame; a block; surf-acing material carried by said block; means slidably mounting said block in said guiding way; rack teeth associated with said block; a gear rockably mounted on said frame and having teeth enmeshed with said rack teeth; a connecting rod connected to said gear; and means for imparting movement tosaid connecting rod to rock said ear.

5. A surfacing machine comprising a frame; wheeled means for supporting one end of said frame; means providing a guiding way on said frame; a head slidably mounted in said way; a block detachably connected to said head; surfacing material carried by said block; rack teeth on said head; a gear rockably mounted on said frame and having teeth enmeshed with said rack teeth; a connecting rod extending from said gear; and means for imparting reciprocat-ory movement to said connecting rod to rock said gear.

6. A surfacing machine comprising a frame; wheeled means supporting one end of said frame; means extended from said frame to form a guiding way; a head slidably mountedin said way; a plurality of pins extending from the underside of said head; a block having sockets to receive said pins; surfacing material carried by said block; a gear rack on said head; a gear rockably mounted on said frame and having teeth enmeshed with said gear rack; a connecting rod connected to said gear; and means mounted on said frame to reciprocate said rod to rock said gear and move said head along said guiding way.

7. A surfacing machine comprising a frame; a guiding way on said frame, ahead slidably mounted in said way; surfacing material operatively connected to said head; rack teeth associated with said head; a gear rockably mounted on said frame and having teeth enmeshed with said rack teeth; a connecting rod connected to said gear; and means for reciprocating said 0011- necting rod to rock said gear.

OSCAR L. ANDERSON. 

